A decade of war has created a new generation of business leaders.

Mission: Managed communication systems for a battalion in Iraq and built a fiber-optic network in Baghdad

Corporate path: Recruited through Wal-Mart's junior military officer program; now manager of a supercenter in Palm Coast, Fla.

Why she has an edge: Deployed in April 2007, Lloyd was in charge of a network serving almost 4,000 troops and tested in an extreme environment. "Think about how often
something goes wrong with the computer in your office," she says. "Now imagine that it's 120 degrees and you're getting bombed all the time."